Octavian And Egyptian Cults: Redrawing The Boundaries Of Romanness

TLDR: Octavian's decision in 28 b.c.E. to ban Egyptian cults from within the pomerium was not a sign of hostility to foreign cults, especially since the emperor himself arranged for the restoration of those shrines outside the city's religious boundary as mentioned in this paper.

Abstract: Octavian's decision in 28 b.c.E. to ban Egyptian cults from within the pomerium was not a sign of hostility to foreign cults, especially since the emperor himself arranged for the restoration of those shrines outside the city's religious boundary. Rather, his action served to reassert the Roman openness to foreign religions while at the same time underlining the distinctions between Roman and foreign religious practices. Using the pomerium to demarcate a clear boundary between Roman and non-Roman helped to reconstruct the sense of Roman identity that had been shattered by the civil wars of the previous fifty years. in 28 b.c.E., thE yEar in which Octavian bEgan rEstOring the famous eighty-two temples mentioned in his Res Gestae, Dio Cassius reports that he took two further actions regarding religious activity in the city of Rome (53.2.4): He did not admit Egyptian rites inside the pomerium, but made provi- sions for the shrines; those which had been built by private individuals he ordered their sons and descendants, if any survived, to repair, and the rest he restored himself. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἱeρὰ τὰ Aἰγύπτια οὐκ ἐσeδέξατο eἴσω τοῦ πωμηρίου, τῶν δὲ δὴ ναῶν πρόνοιαν ἐποιήσατο· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ὑπ' ἰδιωτῶν τινων γeγeνήμeνους τοῖς τe παισὶν αὐτῶν καὶ τοῖς ἐκγόνοις, ἔιγe τινὲς πeριῆσαν, ἐπισκeυάσαι ἑκέλeυσe, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς αὐτὸς ἀνeκτήσατο. 1